PM blasts Tehran as driving force behind turmoil, denounces anti-Israel protesters, defends conduct of war; some hostage relatives removed for protest; Tlaib holds ‘war criminal’ sign
WASHINGTON — Addressing a joint session of Congress for the fourth time in his career, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used much of Wednesday’s speech to frame Iran as the driving force behind violence in the Middle East, while laying out a general vision for postwar Gaza.
Netanyahu also said he was “confident” that a hostage release and ceasefire deal could be reached, but did not offer much details, even as nearly two dozen relatives of the 120 captives still held in Gaza sat in the gallery overlooking the prime minister.
As he laid out the trauma that Israel had experienced on October 7 and its determination to root out the threats posed by Hamas and Iran, the prime minister was frequently interrupted by raucous applause and standing ovations — on both sides of the aisle, though Republicans were noticeably more enthusiastic.
Netanyahu pointed out some of the hostage families in the audience and pledged that he wouldn’t rest until all of their loved ones were returned home, while thanking US President Joe Biden for “his tireless efforts” on behalf of the hostages and the families.
But many of the relatives in the audience — particularly a delegation of roughly a dozen family members of American captives — were visibly unimpressed. The parents of hostages Hersh Goldberg-Polin and Omer Neutra remained in their seats, even after Netanyahu pledged to secure a deal.
Roughly 10 other hostage relatives wore bright yellow t-shirts under their unbuttoned suits that read “Seal the Deal Now.” The yellow-shirt wearers made a point of remaining standing at various moments after the rest of the audience was seated, drawing attention to themselves as they stared down Netanyahu.
Three of those individuals were forcibly removed from the chamber and detained by law enforcement.
“Iran is virtually behind all the terrorism, all the turmoil, all the chaos, all the killing,” Netanyahu said. America, “the guardian of Western civilization,” stands in the way of Iran’s maniacal plans to impose radical Islam on the world. Israel “is merely a tool” for Iran, added Netanyahu, quoting a Hezbollah official. “The main war, the real war, is with America.”
Netanyahu said that “in the Middle East, Iran’s axis of terror confronts America, Israel and our Arab friends. This is not a clash of civilizations. It’s a clash between barbarism and civilization. It’s a clash between those who glorify death and those who sanctify life.” In order to triumph, “America and Israel must stand together,” he declared to loud applause: “We will win.”
He compared the October 7 Hamas attack to September 11 and to the Pearl Harbor bombing, calling it “a day that will live forever in infamy,” and “heaven turned into hell.”
“These monsters, they raped women, they beheaded men, they burnt babies alive, they killed parents in front of their children and children in front of their parents. They dragged 255 people, both living in dead, into the dark dungeons of Gaza,” said Netanyahu.
Pointing to rescued hostage Noa Argamani in the audience, sitting between her father, Yaakov, and Sara Netanyahu, the prime minister described her abduction, and told of the time he met Argamani’s mother, Liora, who expressed her wish to see Noa one more time before she died. Liora died a few weeks after Noa was rescued.
‘Israel will always defend itself’
Netanyahu stood up for Israel’s prosecution of the war, citing West Point urban warfare expert John Spencer, who says Israel has implemented more measures to protect civilians than any other force in history.
“The war in Gaza has one of the lowest ratios of combatant to non-combatants in the history of urban warfare,” he stated.
He made a point to note that one of the lowest civilian casualty rates had been in Rafah — where a chorus of international leaders had warned of catastrophic civilian casualties should Israel enter, predictions that did not come to pass when it did. US President Joe Biden was one such critic of the Rafah plans, though Netanyahu did not name him in this context.
He said Israel killed more than 1,200 terror operatives in Rafah, while killing practically no civilians “because Israel got the civilians out of harm’s way.”
IDF soldiers “should be commended” rather than condemned for how they fought in Gaza, he said.
By seeking arrest warrants against himself and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, the International Criminal Court was trying to shackle Israel’s hands, he said, to prevent it from defending itself. If Israel is found guilty in The Hague, America and all democracies will be next, he argued.
“Israel will always defend itself,” he said to a standing ovation.
He assailed Karim Khan, the ICC prosecutor, for accusing Israel of starving Gazans — calling the charge a complete fabrication and citing the 40,000 aid trucks Israel had let into Gaza since the start of the war.
“If there are Palestinians in Gaza who aren’t getting enough food, it’s not because Israel is blocking it. It’s because Hamas is stealing it,” he said.
He also pointed to efforts by the IDF to warn and evacuate civilians, while “Hamas does everything in its power to put Palestinian civilians in harm’s way.”
“For Israel, every civilian death is a tragedy. For Hamas, it’s a strategy,” he claimed.
He said Hamas wants to carry out October 7 “again and again and again.”
“No matter what pressure is brought to bear,” he said, “I will never allow that to happen.”
Protesters as ‘useful idiots’
Tall steel barriers ringed the Capitol Wednesday, and police deployed pepper spray as thousands of protesters rallied, denouncing Netanyahu as a “war criminal” and calling for a ceasefire.
Netanyahu argued that, “Incredibly, many anti-Israel protesters, many choose to stand with evil. They stand with Hamas. They stand with rapists and murderers.”
“They should be ashamed of themselves,” he said.
Netanyahu pointed out that Iran was “promoting and funding” anti-Israel protests in America. He saluted fraternity members at the University of North Carolina who defended a US flag from protesters, to chants of “USA.”
“For all we know, Iran is funding the anti-Israel protesters” outside the Capitol right now, he added. When the tyrants of Tehran, who hang gays from cranes and murder women for not covering their hair, are praising, promoting and funding you, you have officially become Iran’s useful idiots,” he said as GOP members cheered.
He mocked protesters’ “Gays for Gaza” signs, referencing a common meme. “They might as well hold up signs, Chickens for KFC.”
And he argued many of the protesters don’t know what river and what sea they are chanting about.
Netanyahu blasted the rise of antisemitism on campuses and across the US and castigated the heads of elite US universities, including his alma mater MIT, who failed to speak out definitively against calls for genocide against Jews on their campuses.
Palestinian-American lawmaker Rashida Tlaib, one of Israel’s fiercest critics in Congress, sat quietly through Netanyahu’s speech, holding up a small protest sign reading “Guilty of Genocide” and “War criminal,” before being asked to stop by ushers.
Netanyahu said the war in Gaza would end tomorrow if Hamas “surrenders, disarms and returns all the hostages.” But if it doesn’t, “Israel will fight until we destroy Hamas’s military capabilities and its rule in Gaza and bring all our hostages home.”
“That’s what total victory means and we will settle for nothing less,” he said.
The day after Hamas is defeated a new Gaza can emerge, he said. “My vision for that day is for a demilitarized and deradicalized Gaza.”
He said Israel “does not seek to resettle Gaza,” but must maintain overall security control for the foreseeable future to make sure Gaza never again poses a threat to it. Gaza should have a civilian administration run by Palestinians who don’t seek to destroy Israel, he said. “That’s not too much to ask.”
The next generation of Palestinians must learn to live alongside Jews, he added, calling for deradicalization of the Palestinians in Gaza and comparing that imperative to what happened in Japan and Germany after World War II.
The demilitarization and deradicalization of Gaza can lead to security, prosperity and peace, he asserted.
A contentious speech
Delivering the speech during Israel’s evening prime time, Netanyahu also had an eye on the audience back home. Netanyahu, whose popularity has plummeted from its pre-war levels, aimed to portray himself as a statesman respected by Israel’s most important ally and welcomed in the corridors of Washington. That task is complicated by Americans’ increasingly divided views on Israel and the war, which has emerged as a key issue in the US presidential election.
Roughly 70 Democrats from the House and Senate boycotted Netanyahu’s speech, based on statements from those doing so and a rough head count of those in the audience. Netanyahu’s last speech to a joint session of Congress in 2015 saw 58 Democrats boycott.
The most notable absence was right behind him: US Vice President Kamala Harris, who serves as president of the Senate, said a long-scheduled trip kept her from attending.
Many Democrats who support Israel but have been critical of Netanyahu saw the address as a Republican effort to cast itself as the party most loyal to the Jewish state.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s running mate, Senator JD Vance, was also a no-show for Netanyahu’s speech, citing the need to campaign.
Throughout his comments, Netanyahu sought to strike an uneasy bipartisan balance between his praise for Biden and Trump in the midst of a bitter election season.
Netanyahu made a point of hailing Biden for his support for Israel in the war against Hamas. “He dispatched two aircraft carriers to the Middle East to deter a wider war. And he came to Israel to stand with us during our darkest hour, a visit that will never be forgotten.” He also thanked Biden for half a century of friendship to Israel and for being, as he says, a proud Zionist. Actually, he says, a proud Irish American Zionist.”
But also noticeable was a subtle dig at the president in the form of a call on the US to speed up its delivery of weapons for the IDF to win the war faster.
“Fast tracking US military aid can dramatically expedite an end to the war in Gaza and help prevent a broader war in the Middle East,” he said. “In World War II, as Britain fought on the frontlines of civilization, Winston Churchill appealed to Americans with these famous words: ‘Give us the tools and we’ll finish the job.’ Today, as Israel fights on the frontline of civilization, I too appeal to America: ‘Give us the tools faster, and we’ll finish the job faster.’”
Netanyahu has accused the US of withholding arms from Israel — a charge the White House has denied, saying it froze just one shipment of heavy bombs it feared Israel would use in heavily populated civilian areas during the Rafah offensive.
Netanyahu also heaped praise on Trump for recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, moving the US embassy to the holy city, recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights and brokering the Abraham Accords. Notably though, the premier made no specific mention of expanding those normalization agreements with Israel’s Arab neighbors to include Saudi Arabia.
While the Biden administration has sought to drag this deal over the finish-line, it has largely hit a wall amid the war in Gaza and Netanyahu’s refusal to accept Riyadh’s demand of advancing a two-state solution.
AP contributed to this report. / Times of Israel
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